Changing careers

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Home : 2005 : February : 9

Changing careers
By NJ Teacher

I think that you have to weigh the pluses and minuses about teaching, and decide where you personally lie. All jobs have pros and cons. I think what is scary is that nothing in college probably can prepare you for what is
out there in the "real world" of the classroom. Many of the previous posters are younger people with less than 10 years on the job. I have done it since 1976 in a variety of grades. I agree that the parents are much more demanding and disrespectful as a group than they were when I started. I also think that testing pressures to perform for No Child Left Behind and other mandates leaves

less time for the "fun" things that the kids really remembered from past years. Our salary in northern NJ is very good, but the cost of living and taxes eats up a lot. I do not do this because of expectations of a high salary, because like many publicly funded or governmental jobs, it generally will not earn what private or corporate business pays, and I realize that. The long hours and supplementing your classroom budget, especially in these times, is a given, also for most of us. It is a draining a demanding job, and if you recognize it isn't for you, you're smart to look at alternatives. Good luck to you all.